Longhorns could use more swagger at quarterback

There’s a fine line between humility and a lack of confidence. There’s also a difference in how some players answer questions from the media and how they play on the field. Coaches like Texas’ Mack Brown don’t necessarily mind if their players let actions speak for themselves.

Having said that, University of Texas fans should have at least paused when they read the comments from quarterback David Ash in Monday’s Chronicle article by correspondent Mike Finger.

“What is leadership?” Ash asked in response to a question, sounding like a philosophy teacher who asks his students to answer, “What is truth?”

Maybe Ash is correct if you’re discussing a poem or art or whether Taylor Swift is country or pop. But on the football field, I’d rather believe that quarterbacks deal in more concrete concepts such as, “Follow me and we’ll kick their butts.” Maybe that’s not exactly how Vince Young or Colt McCoy or earlier versions in Austin like Bobby Layne or Duke Carlisle or James Street would have articulated it, but you have to think that’s what their teammates were hearing in the huddle.

Case McCoy sounded less abstract in his comments but seemed OK if he’s not THE guy when it comes to leading the team.

“(Quarterback) isn’t going to be the position that’s going to define this whole team,” he said.

True. But I’m sure Longhorns fans would like it if the quarterback at least thought he was going to be the one to define it.

Cougar, what are you mad about? That aggy didn’t get Briles instead of your guy? Or just that Sumlin and Keenum are gone and your team will go
8-5,? I expect Mack to be around for a while, but when he leaves, for whatever reason, we will have MANY options. I do wish UH success. Go Coogs!

This was Mack’s term. He started using it after 5-7. I think that the better word for the demise was complacency, which he also used. Successful athletes usually do have a confidence that can border on obnoxious, unless they are on your team, but I am also tired of hearing this word.

The Longhorns have a good football team. They are ranked top ten with their backfield(#4) and cornerbacks(#1). The QB position just needs to minimize turnovers and the Horns can win. Both of our guys have bulked up and at least have some experience now. Does the QB need to be a leader, yes of course, but both of these kids have it in them.

“I think marketing surveys of our circulation area would prove you wrong. But they’re probably done by UT and A&M grads.”

The TV ratings are done by Nielsen. I don’t know if they have UT or A&M alums on their payroll.

“As for Saturday’s college football games, the preliminary local numbers on KTRK (Channel 13) were 10.6/26 for Southern Miss-Houston, 8.2/18 for Texas-Baylor and 6.6/12 for Oklahoma-Oklahoma State. The LSU-Georgia game rated 7.4/16 on KHOU (Channel 11).”

“On the college front, the Texas-Texas A&M game produced a 7.9 rating on ESPN in Houston.” — David Barron, UT alum.

LSU has thousands of alums in the Houston area, but I don’t care to read articles about the Tigers in the Houston Chronicle. They’ve got the New Orleans Times-Picayune and the Baton Rouge Advocate. I and I think many Houstonians don’t have a problem with an occasional UT article, but when you say, “. . . you can bet there will be more on the subject, [the UT QB situation], to come,” it sounds as if you’d rather be the Longhorn beat writer than one of two major sports columnists for the Houston Chronicle.